And on at least three occasions, Roarke crossed swords with the Devil Himself (played by Roddy McDowall), invariably emerging the victor. While most of the stories ended happily, there was always the hint that things could have gone horribly (or even fatally awry) and of course, the most frequent lesson learned was "Be Careful What You Wish For." In the early episodes, the enigmatic Roarke came off as something of a professional illusionist and special-effects master as the series progressed, it became clear that Roarke possessed magical, mystical powers of some sort or other. The separates storylines ranged from the poignant to the hilarious, as shy female librarians were transformed into voluptuous vixens, clumsy male bank clerks became sports superstars, mousy secretaries could turn the tables on their dictatorial bosses, elderly retirees were permitted to travel back in time to renew lost loves or recapture missed opportunities, mild-mannered suburbanites briefly lived lives of danger and intrigue, third-rate journalists were afforded the chance to score the "scoop of the century", would-be hunters could go on the prowl for the biggest game of all, and so on. For a flat rate of $50,000, each visitor to the island could have one lifelong dream brought to reality by Roarke and his astonishingly versatile staff. Roarke, the mysterious, erudite, impeccably dressed erudite owner of a lavish and unique tropical resort known as Fantasy Island. Its basic format was similar to Spelling's The Love Boat: A quasi-anthology with celebrity guest stars, with two separate plotlines woven together on each episode by a central location and a small cast of regulars. Introduced with a brace of feature-length pilot episodes which aired on January 14, 1977, and January 20, 1978, the weekly, hour-long Aaron Spelling production Fantasy Island began its seven-season ABC run on January 28, 1978.
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